Herbal Medicine – It Tastes Bad, But It Works!

What? That doesn’t sound like the most compelling sales pitch we know. But like Buckley’s did with their famous slogan, we want to be truthful and address the fact that you aren’t buying a NaturPet herbal remedy for it’s taste. You are giving it to your pet because it works – this is not a treat! You just want to give your pet their best life, and the road to health doesn’t always taste good!  We’ll give you some tips on what works on our own pets but first…

What is Herbal Medicine?

Similar to Buckley’s, NaturPet products contain herbs. The benefit of using herbs for healing is the unique blend of phytochemicals that they offer. These chemicals are produced by plants and play a role in growth and defense. They trigger healthy function and allow the body to heal itself. The effects are more balanced and the chance of side-effects decrease. This isn’t new knowledge to us. Humans have always used herbs, in traditional healing ways and in food to make dishes taste richer. We drink herbal teas to help us sleep, use essential oils on our skin, and diffuse oils in the air for their calming effects. Plants work synergistically with our bodies to help balance us.

What are Extracts and Tinctures?

Now we get to why it tastes bad! There are several ways to extract the beneficial phytochemicals from the plant material. Using hot water to make a tea is one way, although you are getting a limited amount of the phytochemicals. Soaking the plant in a solvent for a few days to a few weeks is another way of getting at those compounds. Tinctures and extracts use high-grade alcohols to extract the plant chemicals. This is the best way to get the phytochemicals that are the hardest to extract. Once the plant material has marinated in the solvent for the right amount of time, the liquid is filtered and bottled. The alcohol, which per dose is the equivalent to what a human would digest in a ripe banana, also helps to speed up the absorption of these important compounds into the bloodstream.

The Result – a Highly Effective and Safe Natural Product That Tastes Terrible!

The taste of these highly beneficial herbs are often bitter, sometimes spicy, and just plain old icky! Trying to load up on natural or artificial flavors just won’t cut it and like Buckley’s, we don’t try to fight that losing battle. However, our team of pet lovers and the happy pet parents who use NaturPet products have found ways to get these healing remedies into their beloved pets. Here are a few tips that work for us:

• Mix with wet or raw food. Some people have resisted this option if they don’t normally feed their pet raw or wet food, but that’s even better! Your pet will be so focused on the novelty of some wet food that it won’t notice that you have mixed the dose of herbal medicine into their food. We recommend just a couple of tablespoons of wet food for each dose. Mix well.
• Drop onto a treat. Whether this be a piece of meat or a commercial treat this option can work well and the dose will generally absorb into most treats.
• Drop onto kibble. This works for most pets, unless you have a picky pet in which case you would want to use wet food. Simply measure the dose and drop directly onto their food.
• Some pet parents find the best way is to simply place the dropper directly in their mouth and squeeze it as far back in their mouth as possible. Follow-up with a treat. Pets don’t generally enjoy this but it gets the job done fairly quickly and easily.

Just like some medicines you give your child don’t taste good, NaturPet herbal remedies won’t either. But the results are worth it! Any pet parent can give their pet their best life by using NaturPet remedies to help their body heal naturally.